Verticalhold,

I am sure what you say goes for any flying, not just for LGW. Always be prepared, always have the next freq dialled up, don't faff about on the radio when its clearly busy etc etc.

I think what the original poster asked was "how was Gatwick" not how should I be a more professional PPL.

It is a sad fact of life that the people who make the rules are not allowed to apply common sense all the time. The ATCOs would like nothing more than to allow you to use a spare, flat bit of concrete (or grass) to get in and out without bothering the big boys. Unfortunately they have to follow the rules set by the airport, who in turn have to justify their rules to the CAA/HSE. This means that almost all of the flexibility of a Heli is lost and delays for all involved.

Well I did it. Departured Thruxton at 0940 and arrived at the MID VOR about 25 minutes later. Having taken off VFR I then entered IMC with a RIS from Farnborough and then made contact with Gatwick Director just west of the MID VOR. I was then given a climb to 3000ft inside controlled airspace and told to proceed to the MAY VOR. Once well downwind of runway 26L I was given vectors for the ILS (I have an IMC rating). The clouds were pretty turbulent as I descended on the ILS and I broke through at about 1200ft.

I was now on finals for the world's busiest single runway airport.

Airliners were everywhere and as I vacated the runway I was given stand 142L. Then came the best moment:

Ground: G-KT proceed direct to stand 142L on J, the BA 737 on you left will give way to you.

Me: Taxi stand 142L on J G-KT

Ground: Speedbird xxx hold postion....give way to the cherokee on your right.

On stand and car from Interflight comes to greet me...takes me to the "General Aviation terminal" (which is a little portacabin next to the South Terminal).

The inbound flight was not too bad actually...ILS approach wasn't perfect...but then its always difficult in turbulent cloud.

Departure was a VFR depature to the NW from runway 26L...while sitting in the take off queue I could feel the aircraft shaking a bit from the jet blast coming from the plane in front of me, but I kept my distance.

Overall it was worth it...sitting on the apron next to a 747 was brilliant and the contollers (especially ground) were really nice. :ok:
Some pictures:

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCN00072.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCN00122.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCN00132.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCN00162.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCN00192.jpg

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...y/DSCN0029.jpg

Thank you again for all your comments...and by the way the bill was as follows:

Landing fee: £418+ £73.15 VAT
Parking for 3 1/2 hours: £50.93+ £8.91 VAT
Passenger charge: £110+ £19.25 VAT
Nav charge: £10+ £1.75 VAT
Handling: £155+ £27.13 VAT

Total: £874.12

I am NOT doing this again.

Well done! I'm sure that was worth every penny! :ok:

I hope you remembered to visit the CAA for your license - easy to forget why you went there amidst all the excitement. ;)

SD

Well done indeed and a great set of pictures, how you managed to do that and take pictures!

Standby for the incoming flak regarding your climb into Controlled airspace. I can just imagine all the comments about was it A or D. Can't go IMC in A. (I'm not having a go, but I'd take that bit out!).

As for the radios, I had that problem when we had our Victorian radios, however I subsequently discovered that one of the two does go to 136, so worth checking.

As for the price, wow that's gone up a lot in a couple of years. I am guessing that was off peak too. I also guess that they are saying that they don't want you.

Anyway, well done!:D

I know, I know....Gatwick CTR extends from the surface to 2500ft and is class D. So 3000ft does put me in the class A LTMA. The controller did say: "now cleared SVFR" and I was in good VMC on top....a little bit naughty := but it was such a relief after bouncing in and out of cloud.

Shame you can only be SVFR inside a CTR - not a CTA or TMA

Can, worms, open!

Also - you have a PM.

Excellent! Thanks for the report. I have to say, the bill is even higher than I expected. Did you have a passenger or was the passenger fee for yourself? I would have thought aircrew would be exempt.

If anyone here is tempted to try something similar (I am), can I suggest that it would be cheaper overall to fly to the US and do it there! San Diego International is the 2nd busiest single runway airport in the world (after Gatwick) and charge a total fee of $25. The locals think this is daylight robbery, since most airports are free.

Well done contacttower!!! I was keeping an eye out for you to the east from my office at Virgin Atlantic but didn't see you arrive. I should have taken my radio scanner with me.

Enjoyed the build up in the PPRuNe forum ahead of your trip, and I'm sure the £900 was worth it. Enjoy your trip to South Africa (my hometown is Cape Town)

Great photos too. :ok:

Nik

Thanks very much for posting this. It's been a great read!:D

Crazy pricing
 

Coming from the other side of the pond, this kind of pricing is mind bending. Over $1,600 for a landing, departure and a bit of parking is just daylight robbery. In the last 2 weekends I flew IFR into Houston Hobby and Dallas Love, both of them extremely busy Bravo airspace and very busy airports (Love is the home of Southwest). In both cases here there was no landing fee, no tie down fee (if fuel was purchased), no land slots, and no passenger collection fees, and a "You're as welcome as a SW 737" attitude.

Point being that I know things are different here, but the UK pricing is designed for one thing - to keep GA riff-raff out, and in no way represents the level of service provided or the costs to render that service.

I just shake my head and wonder how anyone can afford to fly anything other than FSX in the UK/Europe.

Regards from TX

KGTU 011948Z 29003KT 10SM CLR 23/09 A3013

Nice one and very impressive... Im off to San Francisco this weekend with work and I might just have to try San Francisco International whilst I am there (I have booked the whole Sunday up in the air)

BTW - Thruxton is my home field too.... :)

Steve M

There's a picture I took of San Francisco International from a C172 on the flying album thread.

Simon laughed a lot when I told him how much it had cost!

Do they charge per landing or per attempt at the rwy so to speak cause if so £874 aint bad if you land at the numbers to 5 touch and gos in one landing and then vacate at last taxiway.
Dave:}

Fork that!

I think I'll do LAX tomorrow for $20, and save the £800 for two further trips out here;)

light aircraft (gatwick)
 

Flew a Comper Swift out of there in 82 (non Radio) off a service road past the tower (much waving from above)
Prob a one off !!!

Be Careful, you'll get addicted to big airports now. A couple of my GA flying mates are trying to get all the major European airports in their logbooks. If their wives ever find out the cost there will be mysterious deaths.

VH



wonder if I could get my Xair into LHR?

Well done, I was just waiting to push when I saw you at the hold behind the BA 73, I asked delivery about you, he did say must have have more money than sense!! Hope you enjoyed it.

Should fit quite nicely into an A380 freighter ;)

£800+ for a landing is ridiculous, and obviously charged primarily as a deterrent to widespread use by GA. I wonder how much Polly Vacher was charged?